The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a circuit component such as circuit substrate or connector, which is partially plated.
Conventionally, as a method for forming a circuit board on a dielectric substrate, there is known a method comprising the steps of: forming a dielectric substrate in a predetermined shape out of a dielectric material; forming a conductive layer consisting of a conductive material on the entire surface of the dielectric substrate by nonelectrolytic plating; forming a resin mask on the dielectric substrate so that a surface part where a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern is to be formed is covered and the remaining surface part is exposed in the surface of the dielectric substrate on which the conductive layer has been formed; etching the integral piece of the dielectric substrate and the resin mask to remove the conductive part on the dielectric substrate that is not covered with the resin mask; and removing the resin mask from the integral piece of the dielectric substrate and the resin mask that has been etched, thereby forming a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern on the surface of the dielectric substrate (Publication of unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11(1999)-17442). Then, since the resin mask is manually removed by using a tab that has been formed integrally with the resin mask, the efficiency of mask removing is extremely poor in this conventional example.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a circuit component in which efficiency of mask removing is improved, the contour of a pattern along the mask is easily and accurately reproduced, and the productivity is improved.
Also, it is another object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a circuit component which enables accurate and economical patterning by forming on a conductive substrate a pattern of a conductive layer having different properties from the substrate, and applying a resin mask in the case of components having a highly spatial shape such as connectors.
A brief description of the invention relating to a method for manufacturing a circuit component is as follows. That is, the method comprises the steps of: forming an insulation substrate in a predetermined shape out of an insulation material; forming a conductive layer of a conductive material on the entire surface of the aforementioned insulation substrate as a primary plating by nonelectrolytic plating; integrally forming a resin mask of a material having the property of hydrolyzing in an alkali aqueous solution and of resisting an acidic aqueous solution on the insulation substrate by forming the resin mask so that in the surface of the insulation substrate formed with the conductive layer, the part to which a conductive layer of a predetermined pattern is to be formed is exposed; overlaying a conductive layer by means of electrolytic plating with an acidic bath composition on the exposed part as a secondary plating; removing the resin mask by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution; and removing the conductive layer of the primary plating by chemical etching, thereby forming a conductive layer of the predetermined pattern on the insulation substrate. The above material of resin mask has a property of hydrolyzing by an alkali aqueous solution and resists to an acidic aqueous solution, examples of which including saturated fatty acid esterified starch, poly lactic acid, aliphatic polyester, or a mixture or a copolymer of poly lactic acid and aliphatic polyester.
As described above, since the resin mask having the property of hydrolyzing in an alkali aqueous solution and of resisting an acidic aqueous solution is integrally formed on the insulation substrate, and the resin mask is removed by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution, it is possible to remove the resin mask with high efficiency.
Another brief description of the invention relating to a method for manufacturing a circuit component is as follows. The method comprises the steps of: forming a conductive substrate in a predetermined shape out of a conductive material; integrally forming a resin mask on the conductive substrate so that a part to which a conductive layer having a predetermined pattern is to be formed is exposed; overlaying a conductive layer of the predetermined pattern having a different property from the conductive substrate on the surface of the conductive substrate by electrolytic plating with an acidic bath composition with respect to the exposed part; and removing the resin mask by hydrolysis using an alkali aqueous solution. Also the above material of resin mask has a property of hydrolyzing by an alkali aqueous solution and resists to an acidic aqueous solution, examples of which including saturated fatty acid esterified starch, poly lactic acid, aliphatic polyester, or a mixture or a copolymer of poly lactic acid and aliphatic polyester.
According to the present invention, it is possible to make patterning accurately and economically by employing a resin mask in the case of components having a complicated three-dimensional shape such as connectors.